The Corner of Your Eye
by Aldryne21
Summary: Merlin's never alone, hasn't been for a while. But is this company good or bad? Angst and general uneasiness ahead. A bit AU. -ON HOLD FOR NOW-
1. Prologue

A/N: Not beta'ed, all mistakes are my own, I sadly don't own _Merlin_. Please leave a review, thanks!

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**The Corner of Your Eye**

Sometimes Merlin sees him, just a glimpse nothing more, right at the edge of his vision. The first few times he dismissed it easily. It was years ago. He was tired, no run down after yet another treat, another assassin. Black spots had been dancing before his eyes as he finally made his way to his room, planning to collapse on his bed and sleep for the next days. Of course, the prat would never let him. Suddenly a shiver slowly trailed his spine, taunting him. With his magic still on high alert, he swung around with his hand slightly raised, fully expecting an enemy. The hallway was strangely deserted. It unnerved him.

"Hello?" The silence had mocked him.

He continued down the corridors, noting only his own footsteps as they echoed of the walls. Eventually he had shaken this feeling off, this wrongness he had felt. It was the first time he dismissed the warning…

Every time he did magic, he kept seeing him. After a while he grew accustomed to this presence. He was always there, like a silent supporter or a creepy voyeur. Sometimes Merlin drew strength from his presence, hardening his resolve, calming his nerves. Other times he felt like screaming. He knew he had to tell someone, preferably Gaius maybe even Arthur.

But what could they do? Gaius would start rummaging through his books, making potions without effect. Merlin could just imagine his mentor eyeing him with a mix of worry and suspicion every time he would turn his back. He didn't need that. Arthur was neither an option. He would probably laugh at it, calling Merlin an idiot and joking about how his servant finally developed a mental affliction. Merlin would joke with him of course and that would be it.

So he kept quiet, often rubbing his eyes and temples in an effort to spell him away. His friends just thought he was tired. He was. He was so tired of everything. Even when he closed his eyes tight shut, he could still feel the familiar presence.

At times the figure was so far back, Merlin wondered if he had gone, but then the slightest movement always buried that hope. Sometimes he was so close, just the mere distance of a whisper. Merlin believed he had but to reach out and could touch whoever was lurking in the corner of his eye. He never could as the years flew by.

The day the dark figure finally vanished, Merlin was too relieved to question it. He should have…


	2. The Dread of Being The Messenger

**A/N: So I got the none so subtle hints… :) Seriously who puts a completed story on Story Alert? You are a stubborn lot, anyway thanks for doing that and for reviewing! (And Bibliophile109 I had to laugh when you put the story on Alert, timing LOL ) At the moment I'm still figuring out where to go exactly (I know the end just not the way yet…) but here's a first chapter. The previous one can be seen as a teaser or very extended summary.**

**Also, there will be spoilers for all seasons. (If you haven't seen them all, stop reading and get watching!) This starts somewhere at the end of S3, just before The Coming of Arthur.**

**Disclaimer: Same, so if there are annoying mistakes, PM me… Thanks!**

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**Chapter 1: The Dread of Being The Messenger**

"Merlin, do you have something in your eye?" Gaius inquired as he watched his ward rubbing his eyes. Again. The old physician sighed. It had become a habit in these last few months.

"No, Gaius, there's nothing there." Which was the truth for a change. Still, Merlin rubbed them once more, in the millionth attempt to expel this dark spot at the edge of his vision. Only it wasn't just a dark spot.

"Then stop rubbing them, you'll scratch them out one day if you keep this up."

"Wouldn't want that." Yes please, maybe it will be gone.

"Merlin, that sarcastic tone of yours really doesn't make my job easier." Gaius berated him slightly and Merlin finally stopped rubbing.

"And that would be?" Merlin inquired curiously, glad for a chance to change the subject. He should know better than to rub his eyes in front of the physician. If he did that too often, Gaius would simply produce another excruciating potion. The first – and the last – one he took for 'itching eyes' made his tongue feel like sandpaper for five days. Gaius had apologized, saying it was indeed a very rare side effect. Of course, he didn't have 'itching eyes'…

"Keeping that head of yours firmly attached to the rest of you." Gaius said firmly and scribbled something down. "And it's been a full time occupation, but worth my effort."

"You sound very pleased with yourself. I helped, remember?" Merlin huffed indignantly.

"Challenging Arthur, challenging him again, confessing to be a sorcerer, drinking poison…" Gaius started to count with growing amusement.

"All right, all right I get it. Be glad it's calmed down a bit. No one has tried to kill me in these last months." Merlin grinned happily, it had been calm lately. So calm he had more time to fret about that annoying little shade.

"Except a manticore and Arthur." Gaius raised and gave Merlin a knowing look, before turning back to one of his herbal books.

"Yeah, but that wasn't me me, that was Dragoon, remember? The prat didn't know. Speaking of him, I better be going. Or he'll get a lukewarm dinner again and make me wash all the knights socks. Lucky for me most of them are on patrol." Merlin shuddered hastily making his way to the door as he unconsciously brought up his hand again.

"Merlin."

"Right, I'm not rubbing." Merlin denied quickly and clasped his hands behind his back, swinging around and closing the door with his foot as he left with a big goofy grin on his face.

Gaius shook his head. That boy, if I weren't grey already…

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"What are you doing, scaring off an imaginary fly?" Arthur asked in his special voice he reserved just for bugging Merlin.

"No, I mean yes, I mean, no it's not imaginary." Merlin protested as he filled Arthur's cup. He had just brought the prince his dinner. It was hot for a change, thanks to a little 'help', but Arthur didn't need to know that. But all the way up from the kitchen's to the prat's room, he kept seeing that shadow. It was maddening sometimes. Maybe if I can swipe it away… And he had been doing just that, unfortunately Arthur noticed. But yeah, he should've know better, the prince can't be oblivious all the time.

"Whatever, just don't swat it near my food or you can collect another plate from the kitchens." Arthur replied annoyed. He was in a foul mood, Merlin noticed and as he didn't want to be Arthur's outlet for whatever the prince was fretting about he tried to make himself invisible. He watched silently as Arthur ate – or poked around – when something to his left distracted him.

There it was again, that figure of a man! Merlin tried for the hundred time to ascertain if he was made of shadows or made of smoke, because he didn't _look_ solid. But his presence was very real.

The first months of seeing him, Merlin had thought there was just something in his eyes, a sunspot maybe or a stubborn fly, like Arthur suggested right now. But then one day, just after he healed Morgana and stopped her from killing the king in his bed, the figure had moved closer. It was as if something was breathing down his neck…

"Merlin! Stop being so jumpy!" Arthur yelled exasperated as he startled because his manservant did. "Another imaginary beast no doubt. Just go clean out my stables so I can eat in peace."

"Yes, Sire." And with that Merlin left quickly, choosing to see this rather rude dismissal as a lucky break. In the hallway he closed his eyes for a second. The figure had unexpectedly moved closer again, setting off Merlin's own personal warning bell and startling him in the process.

So what could this mean? Argh, while this question itself was frustrating enough, Merlin still hadn't decided if the figure was a good or a bad thing, let alone if it was real and had meaning. Vaguely aware he was rubbing his eyes again he made his way to the stables. Just when he crossed the courtyard a horsemen stormed in.

"Hey! Watch out!" Merlin yelled as he barely managed to jump out of its path. The horseman stopped abruptly, reigning his horse and turned around.

"You're the Pendragon's manservant. You were with him in the tunnels below Fyrien." The man merely stated haughty. He did not descend, just rummaged in his saddlebag for a moment. Merlin nodded, truly not grasping what the hell was going on. He soon found out, when the man threw something in his arms. It took a second before Merlin recognized the cloth in his hands. A scorched, bloody Pendragon cloak. "Tell him to keep his knights off Cendred's lands or else."

With a loud yell the man encouraged his horse and once again stormed off. Merlin looked at the cloak, horrorstruck. He didn't know all the knights, he didn't even like them all, but this… He was no fool, what Arthur or any other member of court may think. He knew what the treat meant, what _this_ meant. One cloak, that's all that would return.

Before hurrying up to Arthur and pass on this horrible news, he watched the horsemen speed across the drawbridge, probably to inform his gloating sovereign of his successful mission. He could just imagine the man bowing down before Cendred's thrown, rising again with a grin on his face claiming his reward as bearer of good news.

In that brief moment, Merlin felt angry and powerless. Without making a conscious decision to do so Merlin's eyes glowed gold. He would never know this action would send the messenger hurling towards his death a few hours later, harness straps cut in half, friction and weight doing the rest.

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**So, any suggestions, pointers? A disappointment? I know I didn't explain what 'it' is, but since I'll be doing multiple chapters, revealing 'it' in the second would be boring :) Next update will probably take a while, June equals exams, but if my muse keeps bothering me…**


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